So, I get up this morning and go into the kitchen to make my coffee, and looking out the window I see the thickest fog ever! I can't even see the buildings across the street from us! That's some thick-ass fog! Either that, or something catastrophic happened to the industrial park, the railroad tracks, the trees and hills beyond our house.

I was actually starting to panic when I got closer and saw that it was actually a big-ass truck parked on the street in front of my kitchen window. The buildings across the street, the train tracks, trees, etc., are all, thankfully, still there.

It was actually foggy out this morning - just not as bad as I thought - so that made my drive to work an exciting adventure! We started to slow down before even reaching the Grade, actually sitting still a couple of times.

Most of the way, though, we were going about five miles per hour; a slow, but steady pace. Coming up on the corner that takes you up the Grade, we could see the reason for the slow down:

The cars ahead of us all but disappeared into the fog! Then I hear on the radio that there's a ten-car accident in the northbound lanes. That shouldn't affect those of us going south, but I'm sure our slow down was a combination of thick fog atop the Grade and lookie-loo's. We paused at one point, and I was able to snap a quick shot of part of the accident scene on the other side:

We were at the top of the Grade by then, and moving at a quicker pace, or I would've snapped more. I saw about five tow trucks, and several smashed cars. Someone had obviously hit the collection of sand-filled tubs, because I could see a few of them were smashed in, one crunched up barrel was sort-of lying atop some of the others, and there was sand spilled over into our lane. I didn't hear anymore about the accident on the radio, so I don't know if there were any injuries. I didn't see any fire trucks or ambulances, but they may have been and gone by then. I imagine there was something on the news about it. If I'm feeling inspired later, I may go look for a link for you.

The rest of the trip in to SLO was uneventful, and I made it into work safely, albeit about ten minutes late. News of the accident and closure (Huh? That was news to me!) of the Grade had made it into the office before me, and people were surprised and delighted to see I'd made it in. I shared some of my pictures, and people were suitably impressed. The whole Grade, fog, accident thing was the talk of the office for about an hour, as other North County folks drifted in looking beleaguered and relieved. What a day! It was only 9am, and I seriously needed a drink!

But, all's well that ends well. People made it in to work safe and sound - at least our group did. Really can't speak for anyone else . . .